Yet the arms are chains…hmm I pictured that as being a fence against affections and barrier against love, and the preceding lines all gave great details of the journey travelled to get there to no reception.

Aww, I liked the “Jared” spelling. It made me think of that Subway spokesman from years ago (Jared Fogle) … who ended up getting in all sorts of trouble for having relations with a teenager. (Actually, now that I’m looking it up, it’s far worse than that. He’s in prison for some pretty bad stuff.)

So what if this were about Jared, literally in a cage and chains? I’m reading this as if he was in love with an underaged “Belle” … actually paying for her “services.” In his head, he keeps going over it again and again (that’s the highway blur he’s traveling, mentally). But no matter how he thinks it through, he couldn’t have done it any other way … even though “loving her” would end with him in chains every time.

I know this is a crazy reading, but I really liked that by using “jared,” it rhymed with “barely.” I couldn’t help but think of this guy’s very publicized life and struggles … and also Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Also the fact that “bells” are associated with orgasms, and he is associated with eating sandwiches … so I can’t help but think of him eating this girl he’s in love with like a sandwich, which always lands him in jail, but he still just can’t stop. 🙂

I’m sorry … or you’re welcome. Whichever you like.

I also see her has a dancer/ballerina because of the title … maybe a jewelry box dancer … not a real thing. Or maybe she turns into different things. Or maybe he’s saying “it’s your turn (eating ‘sandwiches’?)” … or “it’s your turn … to be caged” … Oh, and “caged” on its own line also makes me think of Nicholas Cage, who is AWESOME. So then I see this as Belle telling N.C. that he has her caged … but barely. (Or vice versa, he’s saying that to her.)

I also see the girl turning/dancing/spinning … but inside a cage. Once I saw a play about how regular citizens were housing criminals in cages in their homes because there wasn’t enough room in prisons. So what if he has her caged in his living room (or she, him) as a ward of the state/prisoner.

Obviously “bell-jarred” is a Sylvia Plath/insanity reference. But also, it makes me think of the suspended rose in Beauty and the Beast. So delicate … dying quickly if tampered with. That’s the sort of emotional/mental state we’re dealing with here.

“sighs behind the window” is also “size behind the window” … which makes me think of the guy’s … you know

diesel … die easel … that’s a dying painting … or the subject of a painting dying … perhaps before the work is completed

I love that it’s not just “I search for you returning”; the period makes it do double duty … the speaker is searching for someone while he/she is returning … This makes me think of having lost a child (kidnapped maybe), returning to the last place the child was seen, over and over again, hoping to find another clue. If her arms are chains, I wonder if she is dead. If she’s a ghost and he feels her arms around him, then he must be dead too … if he feels her, the rain/rust probably means he got in an accident and was killed … reunited with her.

A hundred scenarios are possible; I LOVE that about abstract poetry!!!